Disney Pictures will release a film later this year about the life of Ugandan chess sensation Phiona Mutesi, starring Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o. Mutesi learnt chess at age nine and became Uganda’s junior chess champion when she was 11, and the nation’s national champion at 15, in a combined male and female competition. The film is based on the bestselling book, The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl’s Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster by Tim Crothers. The New York Times referred to the book as “astonishing”.
Katwe is an underprivileged area in Uganda. To produce a national chess champion, therefore, is sensationally unlikely, and enriches the tale in an inspirational manner. The wonder of Mutesi’s story is so intriguing that it puts
